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4 row(s) meet your search criteria for July , 2003.

Paypal Fraud Scam/Spam - July 11, 2003

I have a Paypal account. This allows me to exchange $$ with people electronically for various purposes: sports pools, eBay purchases, etc. Today I got two emails, upon first glance, from Paypal. The message reads:

Dear PayPal Customer

This e-mail is the notification of recent innovations taken by PayPal to detect inactive customers and non-functioning mailboxes.

The inactive customers are subject to restriction and removal in the next 3 months.

Please confirm your email address and credit card information by logging in to your PayPal account using the form below:

(click on image for larger version).

This is bogus, brought to you by scumbags bottom fishing the internet for suckers!

Filling out the form sends the information to the alexnames.net website, not Paypal. This person even created PHP scripts to process the information. And if you actually hit that site with the scripts and everything, you get redirected to "real" Paypal with an invalid login attempt.

Some brief research showed me that this is not new, in fact there are wide reports (a Yahoo search found 21,000 entries for "Paypal Email Scam". I'm sure this tactic is successful enough that its worth the risk to try, but this kinda shit makes me mad. I looked up the site using the "whois" registry and I found the contact information for the owner of the site. But considering this has been done before, and the perpetrators of this fraud can't be that dumb as to use their real contact info, I'm sure that info is bogus too so I won't even publish it. I feel sorry for the poor bastard who's contact info they did use. I wonder who would answer the phone if I called that number? Makes you realize that while the internet can be a wonderful repository for good information and great stuff, you must watch where you step.

#  | 07:27 AM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: Rant)

Another Classic Quip - July 10, 2003

On the way home from the Dog Park, since it was after 9pm, I was trying to get Garrett to understand that upon arriving home, it would be time for bed. My plan was to start reciting his various books that we read. As I worked my repetoire of "One Fish, Two Fish..", and "Big Book of Trains", and anything else I could remember, Garrett greeted each with a "no no no no no".

Finally, he made his point. "Just drive Daddy". I didn't say another word.

#  | 11:29 AM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: Kids)

Dog Days of Summer - July 10, 2003

Garrett and I were returning home from a late evening adventure at Gabriel Park. It was a late evening trip since he decided to take a 3 hour nap at 3pm. So the 7:30 bedtime was pretty much out of the question.

Gabriel Park has a good variety of things to do. There is your typical play structure, a Baseball field, and Basketball courts. At the baseball field, there was a game going on between what looked like high school boys. Garrett was the hit of the inning though as he audibly marveled at each pitch, garnering "isn't he cute" looks from all the 40'ish moms and dads as they rembembered when their teenagers were cute too. I would have been interesting to see his reaction to ball that was hit... but alas, the pitcher was horrible - giving up two runs on a wild pitch and a throwing error, hitting a batter, and finally getting a strikeout to end the inning.

Garrett had the most fun in the "off-leash" dog park. We go into the enclosure where there are about 10-12 humans, and nearly 20 dogs having a wonderful time running, jumping, and wrestling (what a great idea BTW, every park should have one of these). Garrett has only recently begun to be interested in Dogs. For years he has been averse to them. I think he experienced a wet doggie kiss early in life from "Casey" (the next-door neighbors HUGE black lab who Garrett still only stands nose-to-nose with) and has always shyed away. Lately however, he has begun to show interest, especially with "Casey". His interaction however is still limited to getting as close as possible to him, without touching, only occasionally making contact. There is obviously still some fear, but his curiousity is taking over. To his credit "Casey" usually allows this, and sometimes wanders around just to keep Garrett annoyed.

Anyway, the Dog Park was a great hit has he was able to watch the dogs play. He was mesmerized. We sat on a picnic table, him on the table, me on the bench so he could see everything. His favorite was a long haired German Shepard, but it was a damn Jack Russel Terrier that made us leave. "Hogan" kept jumping up on the table and trying to give Garrett a kiss. Garrett has no interest in swapping spit with the Dog and so it was time to go. I'm sure we'll go back (I think there is another off-leash area closer to the house), as it was actually fun for me too to watch the dogs play. Sometimes I miss our little dog "Cairo", she would have loved that place.

#  | 11:04 AM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: On-The-Town)

Championship Golf in Town - July 03, 2003

In recognition of the US Womens Open Golf Championship that is in town this weekend at Pumpkin Ridge, I offer the following truisms about golf:

  • Golf is an honorable game, with the overwhelming majority of players being honorable people who don't need referees.
  • Golfers don't have some of their players in jail every week.
  • Golfers don't scratch their privates on the golf course.
  • Golfers don't kick dirt on, or throw bottles at, other people.
  • Professional golfers are compensated in direct proportion to how well they play.
  • Golfers don't get per diem and two seats on a charter flight when they travel between tournaments.
  • Golfers don't hold out for more money, or demand new contracts, because of another player's deal.
  • Professional golfers don't demand that the taxpayers pay for the courses on which they play.
  • When golfers make a mistake, nobody is there to cover for them or back them up.
  • The PGA Tour raises more money for charity in one year than the National Football League does in two.
  • You can watch the best golfers in the world up close, at any tournament, including the majors, all day, every day for $25 or $30. The cost for a seat in the nosebleed section at the Super Bowl will cost around $300 or more.
  • You can bring a picnic lunch to the tournament golf course, watch the best in the world and not spend a small fortune on food and drink. Try that at one of the taxpayer funded baseball or football stadiums. If you bring a soft drink into a ballpark, they'll give you two options -- get rid of it or leave.
  • In golf ! you cannot fail 70% of the time and make $9 million a season, like he best baseball hitters (.300 batting average) do.
  • Golf doesn't change its rules to attract fans.
  • Golfers have to adapt to an entirely new playing area each week.
  • Golfers keep their clothes on while they are being interviewed.
  • Golf doesn't have free agency.
  • In their prime, Greg Norman, Arnold Palmer and other stars, would shake your hand and say they were happy to meet you. In his prime Jose Canseco wore T-shirts that read "Leave Me Alone."
  • You can hear birds chirping on the golf course during a tournament.
  • At a golf tournament, (unlike at taxpayer-funded sports stadiums and arenas) you won't hear a steady stream of four letter words and nasty name calling while you're hoping that no one spills beer on you.

Compliments of AcidMan at GutRumbles.

#  | 12:11 PM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: Funnies)